Every year since 2006, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) has awarded the Watt d’Or prize as a seal of quality for energy excellence. According to a statement from the Umwelt Arena in Spreitenbach in the canton of Aargau, the SEK Mättmi project, which features a Hybridbox as an energy center, is one of this year's winners.
The project, which won in the Buildings and Space category, is an energy project at the Knonau-Maschwanden-Mettmenstetten secondary school in Zurich. It features photovoltaic systems, heat pumps and a combined heat and power plant that together heat five buildings and an indoor swimming pool in a completely climate-neutral way. The system is controlled by the Hybridbox energy center, developed by the company of the same name in Eschlikon in the canton of Thurgau.
The energy center can be operated with a small amount of biogas or natural gas. Furthermore, the award-winning school project, which is supported by the Swiss Climate Foundation, can achieve a self-sufficiency rate of 54 per cent for heating and 70 per cent for electricity generation over one year. The Hybridbox is also being used in other residential buildings and in a renovation project for old buildings.
"The Umwelt Arena Foundation is also involved in this award. It has supported us successfully and courageously from the very beginning," Roger Balmer, CEO of Hybridbox AG, commented in the statement. “We are very proud to be able to showcase the Hybridbox, with its modular design, functionality and specific applications, to visitors to the Umwelt Arena exhibition world."
Simon Härdi, Managing Director of the Umweltl Arena Foundation, said that thanks in part to strong partners such as Hybridbox AG, “we have established ourselves as a competence center for sustainability, environmental and energy issues among the general public.” He continued: “We hope that the Watt d'Or will raise public awareness of the energy-efficient products of our exhibition partners. We would like to congratulate Hybridbox AG on its great success."
